Shirt sleeves with pompoms

ABSTRACT

Pompoms are removably attachable to the cuff portions of a long sleeve garment. The pompoms can be easily removed from the sleeves to allow the pompoms to be worn on the user&#39;s wrists independently of the garment. The pompoms are attached to the sleeves with use of cooperating releasable fasteners such as, but not limited to, hook and loop fasteners, hook and eye fasteners, snaps, or rows of loops and buttons encircling the wrist portion of the sleeve. A band on the pompoms has an arrangement of releasable fasteners to allow the pompoms to be adjustably secured around the user&#39;s wrists when separated from the garment sleeves. Examples of materials used for the pompoms include string, synthetic raffia, ribbons, fringe, yarn, plastic streamers, paper strips or feathers.

This non-provisional patent application is based on provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/339,493 filed May 20, 2016.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the Invention

The present is directed to pompoms that are either permanently attached or removably attached to the ends of sleeves on a garment.

Discussion of the Related Art

Pompoms are generally formed of loose strands of material constructed in a fluffy decorative ball or tuft and are most often made to be held in each hand and shaken or waved in a manner that is visually attractive and celebratory in nature. Pompoms are typically used by cheerleaders and sports fans during spectator sports events.

While hand held pompoms are well known, there remains a definite need for a garment that has pompoms either permanently attached or removably attached to the ends of the sleeves to not only enhance the attractiveness of the garment, but to also allow the garment to be worn by sports fans while cheering for their team at various sports events, such as high school, college and professional football and basketball games. Moreover, there remains a need for a garment and pompom combination, wherein the garment and pompoms are provided in matching sports team colors.

Objects and Advantages of the Invention

Considering the forgoing, it is a primary object of the present invention to provide a garment having long sleeves with pompoms either permanently attached or removably attached to the ends of the sleeves, and wherein the garment and pompoms may be provided in various sports teams' colors to be worn by sports fans and cheerleaders at various spectator sports events.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment having long sleeves, and further including pompoms attached to the ends of the sleeves to enhance the overall attractiveness of the garment and to allow a wearer of the garment to cheer on their sports team by waving and shaking their hands in the air to thereby move the pompoms in a visually attractive and festive manner.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment having long sleeves, and wherein pompoms are removably attachable to the ends of the sleeves to allow the garment to be laundered independently of the pompoms.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment having long sleeves and including pompoms permanently attached to the ends of the sleeves, near the wrist portion, by stitching or sewing.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment having long sleeves with pompoms on the ends of the sleeves, and wherein the ends of the sleeves and/or pompoms can be adjustably tightened around the wearer's wrists or arms to secure the pompoms on the wearer and to minimize stress on the sleeves and undesirable stretching of the sleeves when waiving and shaking the pompoms.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment having pompoms permanently attached or removably attached to the ends of long sleeves of the garment, and wherein the pompoms may be formed of various materials including, but not limited to, string, synthetic raffia, ribbons, fringe, yarn, streamers formed of various plastic materials, mylar, or paper and feathers.

It is still a further object of the present invention to provide a garment having long sleeves and pompoms that are removably attachable to the ends of the sleeves, at the wrist portions of the sleeves, and wherein the pompoms may be worn on a user's wrists independently of the garment and adjustably fitted to accommodate a range of wrist sizes.

These and other objects and advantages of the present invention are more readily apparent with reference to the following description and accompanying drawings.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to a garment having permanently attached or removable pompoms. More particularly, shirt sleeves on a garment such as, but not limited to, a long sleeve t-shirt, henley, sweatshirt, hoodie or jacket are provided with pompoms at the ends of the sleeves. In one embodiment, the pompoms are permanently attached to the distal ends of the sleeves so that when the garment is worn on the user, the pompoms extend from the ends of the sleeves, at or near the wrists of the wearer, to partially or completely cover the wearer's hands. In another embodiment, the pompoms are removably attached to the sleeves to allow removal of the pompoms for purposes of laundering the garment, as well as to allow the pompoms to be worn on the user's wrists independently of the garment. The pompoms may be removably attached to the sleeves with use of releasable fasteners such as, but not limited to, hook and loop fasteners, hook and eye fasteners, snaps, or rows of loops and buttons encircling the wrist portion of the sleeve. When removed from the sleeves, the pompoms may be adjustably secured around the user's wrists with use of cooperating releasable fasteners. Examples of materials used for the pompoms include, but are not limited to, string, synthetic raffia, ribbons, fringe, yarn, plastic, paper or feathers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a fuller understanding of the nature of the present invention, reference should be made to the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in which:

FIG. 1 is a front elevational view showing a long sleeve garment having pompoms secured to the cuffs at the ends of the sleeves of the garment;

FIG. 2 is an isolated exploded view showing one of the pompoms of FIG. 1 removed from the sleeve and illustrating snap fasteners on a wrist flap of the pompom and cooperating snap fasteners on the inside of the cuff of the sleeve to allow removable attachment of the pompom to the sleeve;

FIG. 3 is an isolated plan view showing cooperating hook and eye fasteners at the opposite ends of the wrist flap of the pompom for securing the pompom around the wrist of the user;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the single pompom of FIG. 2 worn on a user's wrist independently of the garment;

FIG. 5 is an isolated perspective view showing yet another embodiment of the invention, wherein buttons are attached to the outside of the wrist cuff of the sleeve of the garment to allow the wrist portion of the garment and adjoining pompom to be adjustably tightened with the use of a ribbon or other strand that is wrapped around two or more of the buttons and pulled in a manner that gathers the two adjacent buttons in partnership, thereby allowing the pompom and sleeve to withstand forces when cheering, waving and shaking the pompoms; and

FIG. 6 is a bottom perspective view of a single pompom of the present invention showing a wristband of the pompom, including a main wristband portion and the wrist flap, and cooperating snap fasteners on the main wristband portion for adjustable and releasable attachment of the wristband around the wrist of the user to thereby secure the pompom on the user's wrist, as seen in FIG. 4.

Like reference numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views of the drawings.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

Referring to the several views of the drawings, and initially FIG. 1, the combination of a garment and pompom arrangement is shown and is generally indicated as 10. In a preferred embodiment, the combination of garment and pompom arrangement includes a shirt 12 having long sleeves 14 with pompoms 20 secured to the ends of the sleeves 14.

Referring to FIG. 2, each of the pompoms 20 includes an arrangement of ribbon strands, yarns, raffia, plastic streamers, feathers or other like materials. In a preferred embodiment, the pompom is made with an arrangement of individual yarn strands 22 that attach at one end to a wristband 24 and terminate at opposite free ends. The wristband 24 includes a wrist flap 28 having an outer facing side 30 with an arrangement of snap fasteners 32 (e.g., female snap fasteners). The sleeve 14 of the garment 12 includes a cuff portion 16 at the end of the sleeve. An inside surface 18 of the cuff portion 16 is provided with an arrangement of releasable snap fasteners 34 (e.g., male snap fasteners) that are specifically spaced and structured for cooperating snap fastened engagement with the snap fasteners 32 on the wrist flap 28 of the pompom 20. When attached to the sleeve 14, the cooperating snap fasteners 32, 34 are hidden from view, as seen in FIG. 1.

Each of the pompoms 20 can be worn on the user's wrist independently of the garment 12, as seen in FIG. 4. To roll the pompom on the wrist, a main wristband portion 26 of the wristband 24 is wrapped around the user's wrist and snap fasteners 42 are releasably engaged with either a first set of cooperating snap fasteners 44 or a second set of cooperating fasteners 46 for adjusted fitting of the wristband 24 around the user's wrist so that the wristband is snug but not too tight. A secondary snap fastening arrangement may be provided to further secure the wristband on the user's wrist including cooperating snap fasteners 43 and 47 on the main wristband portion 26. Once fitted and fastened around the user's wrist, the wrist flap 28 is folded over, as seen in FIG. 3, to conceal the snap fasteners 32 (see FIG. 2) from view. To secure the wrist flap 28 around the wrist so that it remains folded over and covering the snap fasteners 32, a cooperating arrangement of hook 38 and eye 39 fasteners are provided on the opposite ends of the wrist flap 28. Specifically, an inside surface 36 of the wrist flap 28 is provided with hooks 38 and cooperating eyes 39 at the opposite ends, as seen in FIG. 3.

Referring to FIG. 5, in a further embodiment of the invention, buttons 50 and 52 are provided on the wrist cuff 16 of each sleeve 14 to allow the wrist cuff 16 of the sleeve 14 and the attached pompom to be adjustably tightened with the use of a ribbon or other strand 54 that is wrapped around the buttons, such as in a figure eight pattern. In this manner, the wrist cuff of the garment can be gathered together, as the buttons 50 and 52 are pulled towards one another by the ribbon 54, thereby allowing the pompom 20 and sleeve 14 to withstand forces when cheering, waving and shaking the pompoms.

While the present invention has been shown and described in accordance with several preferred and practical embodiments, it is recognized that departures from the instant disclosure are fully contemplated within the spirit and scope of the present invention which is not to be limited except as defined in the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A cheering garment comprising: a long sleeve shirt including a right long sleeve and a left long sleeve, and the right and left long sleeves each terminating at an open free end surrounded by a wrist portion; a pair of pompoms each including a wristband structured and disposed to be fitted about a user's wrist, and a plurality of strands attached to the wristband and extending therefrom and terminating at free ends; a first arrangement of cooperating releasable fasteners on the wrist portion of the right and left long sleeves and the wristband of each of the pompoms for releasably attaching the pompoms to the wrist portions of the right and left long sleeves; and the wristband of each of the pompoms being structured and disposed for securing the pompoms on the user's wrist independently of the right and left long sleeves so that the pompoms can be worn on the user's wrists without wearing a shirt.
 2. The cheering garment as recited in claim 1 wherein the wristbands of the pompoms include a second arrangement of releasable fasteners thereon for adjustably securing the wristbands around the user's wrists.
 3. The cheering garment as recited in claim 2 wherein the wristband of each of the pompoms further includes a main wristband portion and a wrist flap extending along an upper edge of the main wristband portion, and the second arrangement of releasable fasteners are on the main wristband portion and one component of the first arrangement of cooperating releasable fasteners are on the wrist flap, and the wrist flap being structured and disposed to be folded over onto itself to conceal the one component of the first arrangement of cooperating releasable fasteners when the pompoms are worn on the user's wrists independently of the shirt.
 4. The cheering garment as recited in claim 3 wherein the first arrangement of cooperating releasable fasteners includes one component of male and female snap fasteners on the wrist portion of the right and left sleeves and another cooperating component of male and female snap fasteners on the wristband of each of the pompoms.
 5. The cheering garment as recited in claim 3 wherein the second arrangement of releasable fasteners includes one component of male and female snap fasteners at one end of the main wristband portion and another cooperating component of male and female snap fasteners at an opposite end of the main wristband portion.
 6. The cheering garment as recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of strands of each pompom are made of yarn.
 7. The cheering garment as recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of strands of each pompom are made of raffia.
 8. The cheering garment as recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of strands of each pompom are made of plastic streamers.
 9. The cheering garment as recited in claim 1 wherein the plurality of strands of each pompom are made of feathers.
 10. The cheering garment as recited in claim 1 further including at least two buttons attached to the wrist portion of each of the right and left sleeves and a ribbon structured and disposed to be wrapped about the at least two buttons to gather the wrist portion snug around the user's wrist. 